7.9. Night, Hill and Wang, New York, Union Square West, 2006, 120 pp. (First publication 1958)

Transcription

1 Boekverslag door J woorden 30 december keer beoordeeld Auteur Elie Wiesel Eerste uitgave 1956 Vak Engels 1) Data about the book: Sir Elie Wiesel. Night, Hill and Wang, New York, Union Square West, 2006, 120 pp. (First publication 1958) Genre: Word War II / Holocaust. 2) Summary: Night begins in 1941, when, the narrator of the story, Elie, is twelve years old. Having grown up in a little town called Sighet in Transylvania, Elie is a studious, deeply religious boy with a loving family consisting of his parents and three sisters. One day, Moshe the Beadle, a Jew from Sighet, deported in 1942, with whom Elie had once studied the cabbala, comes back and warns the town of the impending dangers of the German army. No one listens and years pass by. But by 1944, Germans are already in the town of Sighet and they set up ghettos for the Jews. After a while, the Germans begin the deportation of the Jews to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. The Jews of Sighet are forced into crowded cattle wagons, each car consisting of eighty people. The conditions of the train ride are horrific; they are treated no better than animals. A woman named Madame Schachter starts to go mad. She yells, "Fire! I can see a fire!" (Chapter 2, pg. 22) Periodically, throughout the train ride, she yells about fire, flames, and the furnace. At first, the others try to quiet her. When that does not work, they merely ignore her. The train arrives at its destination, they are at Birkenau, the reception center for Auschwitz. The air smells of burning flesh. At Birkenau, Elie is separated from his mother and sisters. Realizing the importance of being together, Elie and his father lie about their age. As they prepare to enter the camp, they see a ditch where babies are thrown into a burning flame. Elie cannot imagine that this is actually happening. It feels like a nightmare that he can never forget. The male Jews are shaved, showered, and given work clothes. After a long march, they enter Auschwitz, where Elie becomes number A After a brief stay at Auschwitz, they are moved to a new camp, Buna. At Buna, Elie goes through the dehumanizing process of the concentration camps. Both he and his father experience severe beatings at the hand of the kapos (overseers). One time, Elie receives twenty-five strokes of the whip from Idek the Kapo for walking in on him while he is with a girl. All the prisoners are overworked and undernourished. Many lose faith in God, including Elie. He witnesses several hangings, one of a boy with an angelic face, and sees him struggle for over thirty minutes fighting for his life. To a stranger's cry of "Where is God now?" Elie answers: "He is hanging here on this gallows..." Pagina 1 van 6

2 Elie and his father manage to survive through the selection process, where the unfit are condemned to the crematory. Elie suffers from a foot injury and is put in a hospital. After the surgery, the Germans decide to relocate the prisoners because of the advancement of the Russian army. The prisoners begin a long trek in the dead of winter. Many do not make it. Elie and his father support each other through the grueling march. The march leads to a train ride where Elie witnesses a boy kill his father for a morsel of bread. Elie is horrified at the very thought, but he realizes that he too has become callous - that he is beginning to care only about his own survival. By the end of the winter they arrive at Buchenwald. Out of a hundred prisoners, only a dozen survive, including Elie and his father. Although Elie's father survived the trip, he later falls ill. Elie witnesses the slow deterioration of his father's health and his eventual death. At Buchenwald, the Germans try in desperation to exterminate all the remaining Jews. But by this time, the Germans are close to defeat. Before the Germans can carry out Hitler's plan to exterminate the Jews, there is a successful uprising in the camp by the resistance. On April 11, 1945, American tanks arrive at Buchenwald. As Elie recuperates in a hospital, he looks into a mirror and sees a corpse gaze back at him. 3) Individual a) I couldn t choose to read it. We read it in class so everyone had to read it. b) I was impressed by the story. You read about all horrible things that Jews had to go through. It really impressed me. I would recommend people to read it, because it gave me a new view on World War II. B. Going deeper 1) Explain the principal idea or theme. The theme is holocaust. You can t miss it. The whole story is about what has happened to the Jews and how they handled it. It starts with the first transportation, then the Jews had to move to the ghetto, and after some time they were transported too. They came in Birkenau where Auschwitz was. There they were separated in two groups, women and men. They were thrown into barracks and there they had to suffer until they were rescued. 5) Describe the character or the two important character, and their development from beginning to the end of the story. Elie is a very brave boy. At the beginning of the story he already knew what was going to happen to all the Jews. He was brave enough to tell everyone what was going to happen to them. The only things was that they didn t believe him. But he kept holding on to what he was saying, he didn t gave up. Elie wanted the best for all. He was always being nice to people. He saw the best in them and didn t expect they would have bad ideas or would have bad intentions. But as the story goes on, he started to be a little more careful. He watched out to who he spoke to. Because of the situation in the camps he started to take care of himself and his father, and no longer the other people who where around him. He had to grow up very fast. There was no time for him to act like a kid. From the moment he stepped out of the train he had to act like an adult. 6) The people in the book often react differently in certain situations in the story than you would have done. Describe how you would have reacted in those situations. Most of the time Elie reacties very calm. He isn t a very outgoing person. Pagina 2 van 6

3 Like on the moment the men and women are seperated from each other. I guess he didn t realise that that was the moment he saw his mom and sisters for the last time, but I think I wouldn t have reacted so calm. I would have cried, and yelled, and tried to find a way to keep my family together. Never ever would I have listened to the officers. There isn t a certain situation to explain that Elie is a very, very strong kid. Not physically but mentally he is so much stronger than me. He goes through a lot of bad situations and bad conditions, and he just keeps holding on. He even has the strength to keep his father motivated to live, to fight, not to give up so easily. I would never have had that mental strength, not even to keep myself going. I would need someone like Elie to keep me going. 7) Think of another title for the book. Explain why you think this title would be appropriate. First I wanna say that Night isn t a logical title for this book. I really can t think of a good reason why Elie choose this title. But thinking of another title is hard too. Cause there are some possibilities, but they are so plain and superficial. Every World War II book has in some way the same title. So thinking of another option was hard. But after some time of letting it rest, I came up with Camp. I choose this title because I find it more suitable than Night. Not that this is a good title, but I think it this title explains the contens of the book better. 9) Write part of the personal diary or journal of one or more characters. Dear diary, You are the only one I can tell everything. You re my only real friend in this camp. Well, I ve got to tell you that I am scared. Scared by what is going to happen to us. To all the Jews here in the barracks. Some of them are ill, some of them are as thin as a spoon. I guess we all will die. Some will die tomorrow, some next week, but none of us will survive these horrible conditions. We are treated like slaves, every day is another day of hard work. After the day of hard work we are hungry, but we only get a little piece of bread. Maybe more of us have to die, so we have more bread to share. Only the thought of dying in these conditions, knowing I will be burned in the pit, ending up in smoke and ashes... it scares the hell out of me. None of us deserve to die this way. I guess no one will want to be reminded of these happenings later. No one will talk about these horrible things that happened to the Jews. We will have to suffer while the rest of the world keeps on doing there one business. They won t free us, they just mind their own business... Elie. 10) Show how two of the main characters might have written letters to each other. Write at least two letters. Dear mom, I am doing well, dad isn t. He is weak, but he will make it. We share barracks with some other Jews. The conditions aren t that well, but we make the best out of it. How are you doing? How are my little sisters doing? Dad and I have to work. All of us have to work. It isn t good work, it s hard and we all suffer from it. After a long day of working we have to share a bit of bread, so we are hungry, but I know dad and I will survive these conditions. What do you do during the day? Well mom, I can t write a lot more, cause my ink Pagina 3 van 6

4 is almost gone. I ll try to get some new ink, so I can write you more the other time. Mom, believe me when I say we will be okay. Dad and I will make it. Never give up. Pray to God, and keep holding on. Loves and kisses Your son Elie and & your loving husband. Dear Elie, Thanks for writing us. We are really pleased seeing your letter, and I keep reading it. It s a sign for me that you both are still alive. I really worry about you. I made up out of your letter that you but have to suffer. Please Elie, keep your head held high. You are so much stronger than the officers. Don t let them take you down, don t lose your spirit! One day we will be free, we will be together again. We will have a huge dinner, we will sing, dance, do all the things you love. Go to work, do what they ask you to do, but never let them control you. Your sisters and I are doing fine. Our conditions aren t well too, but we also make the best out of it. During the day we have to work too. Sometimes in the pit, sometimes not. Your sisters stay in the barracks all day. They aren t in good health too, but they will make it. Elie, I love you. Keep holding on and take care of your dad. You re a strong boy.. Your loving mother and sisters 12) Discuss autobiographical influence on the work. This book is an autobiography. It s not about his whole life, but this book just describes the holocaust part of his life. I think it is a way of come to terms with what he had to go through. By writing this book he had to think about all the things that happened to him, his family and the rest of the Jews. He also had to think about what he felt at that moment. It may gave him another point of view on the situation. He might regret certain reactions in situations. C. Evaluation 1) Copy three passages from the book that most appeal to you. Put them in your reading dossier, and explain why you liked them. page 29: I choose this passage because I think this kind of situation had a great impact on your life. To get separated from your mother must be horrible. He still had his dad, but I think a mother is a more prominent factor in a kids life. His mom raised him while his dad was at work. So his separation from his mom, and sisters, made a big impression on me. Page 99: This passage gives a really good view on how the Jews were treated by the officers/germans. This passages is just inhuman. Throwing dead body s out of a train isn t a respectful way of treating people. The Germans are just like animals in some way. They don t mind how the Jews are doing. They don t mind what they feel. I think if I was in the train, and I saw Germans throwing out Jews I would get angry. But I think I would be wise enough to not open my mouth, and tell the German what I think about them. This Pagina 4 van 6

5 situation must have been horrible. Page 114: This is the passages that tells they will be free soon. I almost felt the relief and the happiness of the Jews. Somehow they became a lot stronger by knowing that they would be free men soon. Everybody was still physically very weak, but mentally they were almost unbreakable. How must they have felt? Such a relief after years of abuse, horrible conditions, and losing your family. So I chose this one to show how relieved they were and how strong they suddenly became. 3) Finish three of the following sentences to express how the book has influenced you. Because of this book, I realised.. that a concentrationcamp wasn t just sitting in barracks. These camps were horrible workstations. In some way it reminds me of an animal-inspection. It was so inhuman, and so humiliating. Because of this book, I wonder.. how any Jews could survive. There spirit must have been unbreakable to survive these horrible conditions and happenings. I think I would give up, choose to not fight anymore. Because of this book, I believe that.. the officers must have been animals. How could anyone act like them, without feeling guilt or sympathy. 5) What do you think of this story? It was an impressive story. Reading about the situation the Jews had to go through is very confronting. You hear a lot about the holocaust, and you hear some anecdotes but never the whole story. All the detailed anecdotes made a big impression on me. So I found it a confronting and impressive story. 6) What does this book mean to you? It doesn t have a special meaning for me. It has just opened my eyes about what the Germans have done to the Jews. But this story isn t the kind of story that made me learn something. 7) What questions has this book brought up for you? As you can read in some other assignments some questions about the Jews came up to me. Some examples: - How could any Jews survive these conditions? Or about the officers/germans. - How could the officers act like how they did, without feeling guilt or sympathy? After all it didn t bring up many questions to me. 10) What do you about the use of language? It wasn t very hard to read. There aren t any hard words, and if there were, than they aren t that important so you could just keep reading. It isn t an old story, so the words are modern. There aren t any hard, old words. You don t really have to be advanced in English to read this story. 12) Write your final conclusion of this book. Pagina 5 van 6

6 This book is very realistic about the holocaust, and gives a very detailed view about it. Sometimes I couldn t stop reading because I just wanted to know what was going to happen next, but there are some other parts in the book I have skipped. The parts were a little to detailed, so that's why I skipped them. I would recommend it to everyone, because it is easy to read and it gives you a new view about the holocaust. Pagina 6 van 6